Earth ChangesS


Cloud Grey

Polar stratospheric clouds spotted by observer in Norway


Space Weather
Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:52 UTC
A possible outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) is underway around the Arctic Circle. Unlike normal grey-white clouds, which hug Earth's surface at altitudes of only 5 to 10 km, PSCs float through the stratosphere (25 km) and they are fantastically colorful. Ivar Marthinusen sends this picture of the phenonenon from Skedsmokorset, Norway:
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"Right after sunset on Dec. 22nd, the clouds were so bright they were uncomfortable to look at directly," says Marthinusen.

Also known as "nacreous" or "mother of pearl" clouds, these icy structures form in the lower stratosphere when temperatures drop to around minus 85ºC. Sunlight shining through tiny ice particles ~10µm across produce the characteristic bright iridescent colors by diffraction and interference. Once thought to be mere curiosities, some PSCs are now known to be associated with the destruction of ozone.

"Nacreous clouds far outshine and have much more vivid colours than ordinary iridescent clouds, which are very much poor relations and seen frequently all over the world," writes atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "Once seen they are never forgotten."
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Arrow Down

Massive sinkhole opens up in Berkshire, England garden


BBC
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:17 UTC
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The hole appeared nearly a fortnight ago and has been growing ever since
A "massive" sinkhole has appeared in the front garden of a house in Berkshire.

The 10m (32ft) wide and 5m (16ft) deep crater formed outside the family home of Sarah Jenkins, in Upper Basildon, near Reading.

Ms Jenkins said: "It's massive and it's getting bigger all the time."

Consultant engineer Dr Clive Edmonds described it as "one of the larger of the hole sizes to appear".

The hole first appeared on 5 December but is continuing to grow.

Ms Jenkins added: "The only access to our property has been across our neighbour's garden.

"It's taken out quite a bit of the driveway and garden and it's sitting underneath my children's climbing frame, so it's very serious.

"It's dangerous. Living with this is absolutely dreadful."
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Attention

Hippopotamus attacks and kills woman in Malawi


maravipost.com
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 20:05 UTC
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A hippopotamus attacked and killed a womanin the Vwaza WildlifeReserve early Tuesday morning where she had gone to fish in Lake Kazuni.

Rumphi Police and Vwaza Wildlife Reserve official confirmed the incident in separate interviews and identified the deceased as Dorica Banda, 36, from Chauluntha Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mpherembe in Mzimba District.

Rumphi Police Spokesperson Victor Khamisi said the deceased was among a group of poachers who had gone into the protected area to fish.

"While they were casting their nets, a hippopotamus suddenly emerged and charged at them before it went for Banda, who was at the time in the water, and attacked her.

"When she shouted for help, the rest of the group ran away, leaving her at the mercy of the beast," Khamisi said.
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Binoculars

Robin seen in the dead of winter in Bethel, Alaska

Charles Enoch
kyuk.org
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:28 UTC
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© Kevin MorganA robin spotted in Bethel December 17th.
A rare winter robin has been spotted in Bethel and it has folks wondering what exactly it means. Locals and a biologist say they think it has to do with climate change.

Bethel resident Myron Angstman spotted and videotaped a robin outside his window on Wednesday(12/17). He says that's not the only unusual thing he saw. Angstman says his wife looked out through the kitchen window and saw a red squirrel hanging out with the robin.

"And the red squirrel bounded into the feeder and chased the robin out and the robin came and landed in a tree by the kitchen window. So then we got a good look at it and we got some pictures," said Angstman.

Angstman says the robin was eating bird seed because the bugs it would normally feed on are nowhere to be found in the winter. He adds that in his 40-years of living in Bethel, he's never seen a robin in the middle of December.

"It's always really spring before they get here. They don't show up in the end of winter at all. It's usually May sometime, usually late May I think, but it's usually pretty warm out when you see your first robin," said Angstman.
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Ice Cube

Violent volcanic blasts ripped through West Antarctic ice sheet twice

Becky Oskin
Live Science
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:12 UTC
West Antarctic subglacial volcanoes
© Nels IversonA map showing the deep West Antarctic divide ice core, the Byrd ice core and the location of three subglacial volcanoes.
Volcanoes punched through a remote part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet twice in the last 50,000 years, according to research presented Monday (Dec. 15) here at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Distinctive layers of brown ash in a deep ice core are evidence of violent volcanic explosions that occurred about 22,470 and 45,381 years ago, near the West Antarctic divide. Their source, however, is a mystery.

The closest active volcanoes that rise above the ice are more than 185 miles (300 kilometers) away, said study leader Nels Iverson, a volcanologist and graduate student at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. Powerful eruptions from these peaks have dusted the West Antarctica divide with ash, leaving glassy shards embedded in younger layers of the ice core. However, the ash particles described here Monday are too blocky and coarse to travel long distances, even on Antarctica's fierce winds. The ash is also chemically different from eruptions at the distant volcanoes. And to draw the circle in tighter, neither ash layer appears in an ice core drilled about 60 miles (100 km) to the southeast.

Comment: See also:

Active volcano could erupt underneath ice in Antarctica

Antarctica, is it melting or not? Man-made global warming can't explain this climate paradox

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Binoculars

12 endangered vultures rescued after fleeing severe cold in Nepal, Bhutan and India


The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:44 UTC
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Twelve critically endangered Himalayan Griffon vultures have been rescued after they fell on the ground in several areas of Panchagarh.

Officials of Rajshahi and Dinajpur forest departments and Panchagarh district administration rescued the rare vulture species from Mirgarh, Malipara, Station Road, bus terminal areas of the district.

Tapan Kumar Dey, conservator (Wildlife) of the forest department, said the vultures had flown from Nepal, Bhutan and Himachal of India.
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Cloud Precipitation

Malaysian national park receives heaviest rainfall in more than 40 years

Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah
Reuters
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 05:48 UTC
Image
© Malaysia Official Man Utd Fan Club/TwitterTwitter screen grab of the flood.
Nearly 60 foreign tourists are among almost 100 people stranded at a resort in a Malaysian national park lashed by its heaviest rainfall in more than four decades, staff said on Wednesday, and authorities are sending boats and a helicopter to rescue them.

About 84 guests, including travelers from Canada, Britain, Australia and Romania, and 10 staff members at the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort, in the East Coast state of Pahang, were marooned after riverbanks overflowed, a resort official told Reuters.

The local fire and rescue department was sending boats and looking for a safe spot for a helicopter to land, he said.
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Question

Two rare sea turtles found on UK's shores 5,000 miles from home


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:11 UTC
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© Wildlife Trust
One of two Kemp’s ridley turtles found in Cumbria and Merseyside, 5,000 miles from their home in the Gulf of Mexico.
Critically-endangered Kemp's ridley turtles were found in Cumbria and Merseyside, 5,000 miles from their home

Two rare sea turtles have washed ashore on beaches in the North West, some 5,000 miles from their home in the Gulf of Mexico.

The critically-endangered Kemp's ridley turtles were found in Cumbria and Merseyside, and it is feared that more could yet appear.

Rod Penrose, a Marine mammal expert, said that they could have been "cold-stunned" by a drop in ocean temperatures in the US, which would leave them unable to feed or swim against strong currents.

Rob Archer, who was walking with his girlfriend on Saturday when he found one of the turtles on Sefton Beach, near Formby, told the Liverpool Echo: "At first I thought it was a crab.

"It seemed in a stupor as if there wasn't much life left in it.
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Cloud Precipitation

Tornados kill 4 in Mississippi; 50 injured during severe storms in Deep South

Sean Breslin
Weather.com
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 08:25 UTC
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Severe weather swept across the South Tuesday, spawning at least five reported tornadoes that killed at least four people, injured at least 50 others and destroyed homes.

Mississippi was particularly hard hit. All four reported deaths took place in the state - two in Marion County and two in Jones County.

"If Tuesday's storm deaths prove to all have been caused by tornadoes, it will become the deadliest December tornado event in Mississippi since 38 died in the Vicksburg tornado of Dec. 5, 1953," said Nick Wiltgen, weather.com senior meteorologist.

In all, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center relayed a total of 69 storm reports across the Deep South on Tuesday. Most of those were wind damage reports, but there were 14 tornado reports as well. Keep in mind that those are just reports, not confirmed tornadoes, and the final tornado count is likely to be fewer than 14.
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Mississippi

Gov. Phil Bryant issued a state of emergency Tuesday for Marion and Jones counties, along with other parts of the state affected by severe weather.

At around 2:30 p.m. local time, strong circulation with a debris signature was spotted on radar moving toward the town of Columbia, in Marion County.

The reported tornado damaged businesses, flipped cars and toppled power lines onto U.S. 98, closing the road for several hours. Two people were killed, one in a trailer park, the other in a strip mall, the Associated Press reports.

Another two people were dead in the aftermath of severe weather in Jones County, according to Jones County Emergency Management Agency.

Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge said the two were killed when a mobile home was destroyed, WAFB-TV said.

Comment: For easy to understand science on the electric universe and the crazy weather we are having here on the planet, read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

You can also listen to the SOTT editors interview the authors below:

SOTT Talk Radio show #70: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

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Snowflake

Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, Hawaii, under blizzard watch


HawaiiNewsNow
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 05:50 UTC
blizzard hawaii
© Ethan TweedieSnow on Mauna Kea - taken Oct. 14, 2014
The summit areas of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii have been placed under a Blizzard Watch from Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu said low pressure developing near the islands could spread a band of deep moisture and layered clouds over the Big Island. If that happens, heavy snow and blizzard conditions are possible at summit areas about 12,000 feet.

A Blizzard Watch means there is a potential for falling and/or blowing snow with strong wind and extremely poor visibility, leading to whiteout conditions that will make travel very dangerous.

Comment: Are the global warming folks ready to give it up yet?

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